The Monday after the Apple Bash I decided the girls needed a little extra fun since they’d been so good and patient with us during the preparation for the party. I got up early to put together there surprise…the TUNNELS of FUN! Cedi woke up cranky as usual. But she quickly perked up when I told her there was a surprised downstairs. “Is it a treat?” she asked. The girls had fun right away in the tunnels of fun! I called up their friend, Trexen, and his mom, to let them know we had the tunnels of fun set up. They came over and Trexen enjoyed playing with the girls.Another challenge…try to get all three kids under 2.5 to look at the camera at the same time…doesn’t really happen! But they were still cute!

I bought the tunnels of fun from www.orientaltrading.com a few years ago…it’s come in handy on rainy/snowy/cold days.

I fell in love with michelemaule’s ‘Someday Soon…5x7 Reproduction Print’ when I stumbled across it looking for things to fill a particular treasury. This is just one of many amazing images Michele has in her etsy shop. I had to see if she would do an interview for my blog and happily she agreed! I hope you all enjoy meeting her as much as I did!

Tell me a little bit about your background in arts and crafts.I started making art as a young kid, and I always really enjoyed it.It was my favorite subject in school. as I got older, it remained one of my most favorite things. So, after a lot of debate, I went to college, and graduated with a degree in it!

When did you first start creating things?I began creating things at a very young age. Probably kindergarten is my earliest memory of making things. I remember some of my first art projects, and I remember always getting a lot of praise for the things I made.

What were the first things you created? and how did your creativity progress from there?as I got older some of the more serious things I started making were paintings. I started painting when I was about 18. I was doing a lot of what I am doing now. Lots of painting and collage. It was a lot darker than the work that I am doing now. I think I've really learned how to express my ideas better throughout the years.

Is this your only business or do you do other things as well?This is it! This is my one and only job and I love it.

Do you still dream about making other things? If so, what?I'm always dreaming of doing new things. I really want to do more screen printing, and perfecting that. I'd also love to learn how to knit, or sew, but there are only so many hours in the day!

How did you come up with your shop name?It was pretty easy. I just used my name. I think using your own name when having an online business is great for visual artists.

What are your favorite shops on etsy? Why do you like them?There are so many! I really don't think I could pick one, two, three, or four favorites. There are so many talented people on Etsy. It really amazes me. Some of the ones that i am thinking of right now are:http://www.beantownhandmade.etsy.com

How did you hear about Etsy?My friend Angie actually told me about Etsy. We were at a craft fair, and she told me that she thought my work would do really well there. She was right!

Any words of advice to others?Just work as hard as you can, and try to keep a positive attitude.It can be rough sometimes, especially when you're first starting out, but it's so important to try and be as positive as you can.

The girls took a ride on the gator with Great Grandpa and Aunt Karma…they spent the majority of their time at the party passed out…

Some people sitting down and enjoying the food at the party!

Al’s Buddy Scott is back for yet another bash. You know it’s a good party when someone you don’t really know keeps coming back! That’s what I LOVE about this party! Hope to see you again in 2010 Scott!

My aunt Barb, Me, and a friend from etsy…CinfulArts chatting about quilts at the bash…yeah, we’re cool!

Me and Brianna (a girl I used to work with) in the midst of it all!

Jared and I…the morning after!

And this is the last official post I will be doing about the 2009 Apple Bash/Frank’s 60th Birthday Party. I hope I have tempted you all to come and join us next year!

So, I’m going to start out this post with the mishaps of the bash. Then I’ll move on to a couple of miscellaneous pictures I took. Unfortunately I was having a really good time and did not take as many pictures as I would have liked…

Bash Mishaps

NUMBER ONE: the Unfortunate Avocado's

The 8 avocado's I purchased for Karma to make guacamole with would not ripen (and yes we tried putting them in a brown paper bag with a banana…no good…oh and microwaving doesn’t work either).

NUMBER TWO: The Frito vs. the Cheeto

As I have mentioned in prior posts’ we had planned on including mini bags of Frito’s at the bash so people could make walking taco’s. After searching forever for them we finally found a source (I will not reveal it). We ordered the “Frito’s” and they arrived on the Thursday prior to the party. *Note to self* make sure to look at the outside of the box prior 30 minutes prior to the party on Saturday. Not sure if anyone decided to try walking taco’s cheeto-style but they did taste extra cheesy and extra yummy on Sunday morning!

NUMBER THREE: What Can We EAT ON?

I had purchased 300 plates prior to the party. I purchased 300 of the cheapest paper plates possible. Which means…that everyone was using at least 2 at time so the food did not seep through them. I realized this dilemma early on and called my cousin Amie who had not arrived yet. I requested that she bring more plates….when she asked how many…my response, “two-maybe three hundred?” We did run out of plates for about 15 minutes but luckily Amie arrived soon after with some fabulous plates…not the cheapest kind either so we made the night! (thanks Amie)

And that was it. Three problems for the largest party we’ve ever thrown…I think that went rather well.

Taking the perfect pictures of my items on etsy seem to be a challenge I work on every day! I’m always taking, retaking, editing, and re-editing everything I do. At some point, I think…”These are fantastic…they’ll have to make front page!” and alas…doesn’t happen. Here are a few new shot’s I’ve taken of some of my quilts.

Step 1: Put a 60’ x 40’ shed addition on a few weeks before the party and a year before a third of it’s going to be converted into cold apple storage.

Step 2: The coolers. Five for beer. One for water. One for Soda.

Step 3: Other beverages. One half barrel. Twenty gallons of hard cider. One water cooler of water. One water cooler of ‘Kiddo Margarito’s’ (per Cedi) aka Pink Lemonade.

Step 4: THE FOOD. Taco Bar including everything I mentioned in a post last week. We started the evening out with the main food…brought out the appetizers around 8. Step 5: Make sure to keep the things that should stay cold…cold. Using an large tray-like thing that stored ice and all of our taco bar condiments!

Step 6: Be so prepared for the party that you actually have some time to sit down and relax before the people arrive! Seriously…we were that organized!

This past Saturday was my annual Apple Bash. This year it was extra special because we combined it with my father-in-law, Frank’s 60th Birthday Party. The bash is my husband’s and I’s last hurrah before Apple Season begins and we don’t have time to see our friends anymore. We love to see our friend’s and family and it’s a good time that lasts the whole night.

This year, one of my friends from my online etsy Quiltsy Team was in the area and I invited her to stop by – and she did!

I was happy to meet Cindy of CinfulArt (on the right). My aunt-in-law, Barb, also a Quiltsy team member was our our party as well (left). (I’m in the middle!). Cindy and her husband (who’s name is escaping me right now) were a great addition to our bash. My FIL even brought up that it was nice to meet them and they seemed to fit right in (and there were at least 100 people there throughout the evening).

I imagine it was a bit intimidating to drive up to someone’s place that you’ve never met and see all those cars lined up! I’m so glad you braved it out Cindy…it was great meeting you and showing off my workspace, house and orchard. :)

Apple Bash/FIL’s 60th birthday party was a huge Success! I’m happy to announce. I’m going to spread out reporting about it throughout this week.

I’m going to start today with

THE CAKE!

We purchased a full sheet cake from Karen the Cake Lady (the same one who made Jared and I’s wedding cake). It was a marble cake with butter cream frosting. So delicious! My decorating instructions to her were ‘Happy 60th Birthday Frank’ (obviously) and that he liked beer, candy and was a farmer (apple’s in particular). Karen told me about this ‘tasteful’ naked old man she puts on these type’s of cakes and asked me if I was okay with it. Ummm, PERFECT…make sure he has a mustache! He did!I think my father-in-law thought the cake was pretty cool. I know Cedi was really excited about all the candy on it!

We put the cake amongst the Candy “bar”. I think it was a fun addition to the party AND Frank got to keep all the excess candy for his birthday gift. I don’t think he’ll need to run to Farm and Fleet for candy anytime soon!

PS. Thank you for the balloons for my girls Karen the Cake Lady. It kept them occupied for the entire morning/afternoon while I got things ready! Good call!

You’ve guessed it from the title…it’s TREASURY SATURDAY! Lots of great treasuries to share with you this week…items in my shop were featured for the first time by lots of new-to-me artists. Very exciting! I do have to tell you that I unfortunately did not take a screen shot of my ‘Trees of Green’ treasury…I do apologize for that. It was a cool treasury!

This is the other treasury I made this week (the one I remembered to take a screen shot of…I called it ‘stacked.’ these are all great items I found when I typed in ‘stacked’ into the etsy search engine. The Stacked Turquoise Coral Earrings from the apple were featured.

I hope you enjoyed another week of treasuries! I know I did. Everyone have a great day and tune in again next Saturday to see what the treasury land comes up with during the week!

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